Men don't overreact
by SussiRay
Summary: Hotch and Emily's first big fight. Hotch did something that Emily doesn't approve of. Let the glaring begin! Number 5 in "Men don't"... Two-shot. Updated 27/5!
1. Chapter 1

Men don't overreact – part one

**A/N: I just want to say thanks so much to all who reads and reviews this series! You're so great I can hardly believe it! **

**I'm so happy that you like this series because I'm just having the best time ever writing it! Whenever I have a bad or boring day I just jump into this world and my day gets so much better! And all the lovely reviews just make me want to write more and more and more... Thanks so much! **

**Here's a two-shot for ya! This is about 6 months into their relationship.**

**Last time I checked I did not own Criminal Minds... and I'm pretty sure that's still the case...**

/

The front door to Hotch's apartment swung open and Hotch made his way in followed by a silently steaming Emily.

"Why are you so upset?" Hotch asked glaring at her."Don't think that I haven't been noticing those little angry looks you've been sending my way the whole ride home."

"Good! You were supposed to notice them." Emily answered crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.

Hotch shot her another glare but didn't respond.

"I just can't believe you!" She exclaimed at her boyfriend slash unit chief. At the moment though he was only her boyfriend Aaron. And in her opinion Aaron had screwed up. Royally.

"I really _don't_ see the problem." Hotch shot back much more calmly. He knew he could be terrifying if he wanted to but he didn't want to. He also knew that one of the few people that never really found him terrifying was Emily.

"You wouldn't, would you?" Emily snapped. "I'll have you know that I am a fully trained FBI agent and I can take perfectly good care of myself. You know that! You see me in the field almost every day."

"This was different!" Hotch snapped back. "This wasn't on the job and he was harassing you!"

"I could have handled it myself. I'm not some weak damsel in distress that you have to rescue. You just _had to_ go all Hotch the caveman on me!" Emily's eyes were glowing dark as she stared down Hotch.

"Yeah! Because you really looked like you were handling it!" Hotch couldn't help but bite back.

"Aaron, you know what? Screw you!" She knew that it was childish and stupid but she just couldn't get over the fact that he didn't seem to think that he had done anything wrong.

And with that as her final remark she stormed out of his apartment leaving him by himself looking at the slammed shut door.

/

As she was driving the short way home Emily replayed the offending events of the night in her head. It had just been a simple team outing. They were just going to grab a beer and have some quiet fun. Nothing else.

She'd noticed the creep staring at her fifteen minutes or so into the night. She had also noticed Hotch noticing him maybe five minutes later. She'd felt him tense up next to her and when she turned she could see that his eyes were dark and she followed his gaze straight to the creepy guy at the bar who seemed to have no intentions of backing down.

At first she had kind of liked it. Seeing his eyes get all dark and knowing that he got possessive of her. She was sure that his caveman side was one of the many reasons he was so incredibly good in bed.

But then it just seemed like he couldn't let it go. He had kept glancing over at the man. Every time piercing through him with the Hotchner death glare. She on the other hand had just decided to ignore the pervert. And to go on having a great night. She just wished that Hotch had had the sense to do the same thing.

When she had gone up to the bar to grab Hotch, Rossi and herself one last round it had taken less than thirty seconds for the creep to approach her. She had politely but firmly turned him down. But he had had no plans to leave. This had to have been either the stupidest or the most wasted man ever. Or possibly both. He'd grabbed her by the waist and tried pulling her with him. And just when she was about to kick his ass. And she was going to enjoy it too. Someone did it for her.

He had pushed the guy up against the bar and stood hovering dangerously over him burning holes through him with his blazing stare. Then he'd snarled a threat to arrest him if he didn't back off. She'd been thoroughly surprised that the guy hadn't wet himself out of sheer fear. He'd just spluttered something unintelligible and hurriedly stumbled away shooting a glance over his shoulder every few steps to make sure that the big scary man wasn't following him.

The ride back to Hotch's apartment had been strained to say the least. She had not enjoyed that particular display of possession and he knew it. But the stubborn man just couldn't see why. He just couldn't see that she was perfectly capable of getting rid of ogling drunks by herself.

/

Hotch didn't try talking to Emily the next morning. He'd heard Morgan greeting her through his open door when she arrived an hour after he had gotten there. But he'd taken a careful look out through his blinds at her and seen her tense posture and the furrow between her eyes and decided to stay well away. At least for another few hours.

Quietly making his way out of his office Hotch made a point of not looking down into the bullpen as he walked over to Rossi's office. Rossi had helped him with his "lady problems" before and perhaps he could be of assistance again. He was pretty sure that Rossi had a lot more experience _arguing_ with women than he had _courting_ them.

"Hey." Rossi greeted Hotch when the younger man slipped through his door after giving it a firm knock. He immediately noticed Hotch's set jaw and creased brow. This couldn't be good. "Why do you look like someone forgot to press your favorite suit?" He asked trying to keep the conversation lighthearted.

"Emily and I had a fight." Hotch said glumly.

At Hotch's words Rossi's warning lights immediately started to flare. He distinctly remembered the last time Hotch had come into his office looking much like he did right now. That time he had been at the receiving end of a stupid prank. He just had to make sure.

"Is this for real, Aaron?" He asked cautiously not wanting to step on any toes and release the wrath of Aaron Hotchner. "I'm not being _Punk'd_ again, like the kids like to call it?" Again trying to keep it light and breezy.

"Of course it's for real, Dave!" Hotch snapped. Then he regained his trade marked emotionless calm and shook his head at Rossi. "Sorry, Dave. Didn't mean to snap at you. It's just so frustrating."

"What is?" Rossi asked silently accepting his role as agony aunt once again.

"Emily!" Hotch exclaimed. "Why is she so damned stubborn? Why can't she see that I was only trying to help?"

"Wait." Rossi said with an eyebrow raised in question. "Is this about last night? About that drunk who tried to feel her up."

"Yes." Hotch confirmed. "Apparently _I_ did something wrong by trying to protect her from a pervert that was all hands." Hotch's eyes got even darker as he for a second flashed back to the previous night.

He'd seen this creepy guy undress Emily with his eyes. Then even after several angry glares he'd still approached her when she went to the bar. So he'd decided to give her a hand. To show the moron that she was there _with_ someone. With her boyfriend. But then on his way over he'd seen how the guy had put his hands on her and he'd had this overwhelming urge to introduce the guy to his Glock. That creep was lucky that all he did do was push him up against the bar.

He'd been completely astonished when he'd realized that Emily was _angry_ with _him_. He had _helped_ her. Contrary to what she apparently thought he knew that she was an excellent agent who was beyond capable of defending herself. But they had not been at that bar as SSA Prentiss and SSA Hotchner. They'd been there as Emily and Aaron. And Aaron protects Emily. Always.

He was pulled back by Rossi clearing his throat a little louder than necessary.

"I get where you're coming from, Aaron, I really do but look at this from Emily's perspective. She's never been in a real long-term relationship. And she is, if you don't mind me saying, quite attractive." He said raising an apologetic eyebrow. "She's probably had to fight off her fair share of drunken buffoons before. And if what I hear is true she's pretty good at it."

Hotch sighed. He knew that. But he didn't want to have to apologize for his decision to help his girlfriend out of a tricky situation.

"I know that Dave, but..."

"No, buts, Aaron." Rossi cut him off. "I know both of you and believe me when I say that the two of you are the most stubborn donkeys there are. Why don't you just be the bigger person here and get her some flowers and tell her how very sorry you are." He gave Hotch a smirk. "Then you might actually see some action other than your left hand _before_ the end of the month..."

Hotch let out another sigh. God, he hated when Dave was right. And apparently now the old man could read his mind too because he met Hotch's sigh with an even smugger smirk.

"Sucks when I'm right, doesn't it?"

/

Just as her key hit the lock in her front door Emily felt her cell vibrate and heard the characteristic ding of a new text message.

Fumbling with her keys, her go bag, purse and cell she decided to just drop her stuff on the nearest flat surface which happened to be the kitchen island. Pulling out her cell phone she saw directly who the text was from.

_Em, we need to talk. Please come by my apartment._

_I got that wine that you love..._

_xo_

_Aaron_

She also realized that they needed to talk. She was just procrastinating a little. Because she knew that he hadn't meant anything bad by doing what he did. She just didn't want to admit that just quite yet. But she actually was glad that he wanted to protect her. He loved her.

But that didn't mean that he didn't need to understand that she could take care of herself. And she needed to know that he wouldn't spend the rest of their years together (that she hoped would be plentiful) walking two feet behind her brandishing his gun at every man that looked twice at her.

Grabbing her purse and keys off the kitchen island she made her way out of her front door again. Heading for Hotch's apartment and a talk.

/

He knew that she was coming before he heard the knock on his door. He'd been looking out his living room window since he sent her the text. When he'd seen her car pull up he'd felt a nervous flutter in the pit of his stomach.

During the five minutes it took her to walk up to his apartment he'd fiddled with the bouquet of pale pink roses that stood in a vase on his dining room table making sure that they looked just right. Then he'd felt the bottle of Chardonnay for the fifth time making sure that it was chilled to perfection. He just wanted everything to go as smoothly as it possibly could.

At the sound of her knock on his door Hotch took a deep breath and steeled himself as he walked over to the front door and opened it. There he was met by two uncertain brown eyes and a weak smile.

"Hi, Em." He bent down and kissed her on her cheek not really daring to do anything else before they'd had their talk. "I'm so glad that you came." He told her earnestly.

"Of course I came, Hotch. It's not like I _want_ to have this dumb fight with you." She answered giving him another small smile and stepping into the living room.

"Are those for me?" She asked indicating the dozen pink roses in their vase on the table. The roses that he'd spent half an hour picking out at the florist.

"Yep." He gave her a dimple. "Just something to tell you that I'm sorry that I overreacted yesterday."

A wide smile spread across her red lips and her dark eyes twinkled as she closed the distance between them. Then she pressed her lips against his and wrapped her arms around his neck. He responded in kind pressing himself as close to her as he possibly could. When they broke apart her voice was a little shaky.

"You can't believe how happy I am that you're seeing this from my side." She told him giving him a squeeze. "That you realized that you just can't go all caveman-y like that on me." She gave him another squeeze but his arms fell limp along his body.

"What do you mean caveman-y?" He asked shooting her a small glare. "That wasn't caveman behavior. That was common sense!" He took a couple of steps back. "That guy had his hands all over you. I _helped_!"

Emily's eyes grew darker. He really still thought that she couldn't fend for herself?

"You just don't get it, do you?" She growled at him. Then she swiftly tore the front door open and left Hotch once again looking with stunned eyes at his closed door.

**A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review... I've had a drop in reviews and I just want to make sure that people are still enjoying this little tale...**

**Second part should be up in a few days...stay tuned!**

**/ Sussi**


	2. Chapter 2

Men don't overreact – part two

**A/N: Thanks to all who read and reviewed part one! Unfortunately the stats thingy decided to break down so I have no idea how many hits part one got...**

**Sorry if I broke any hearts by having Hotch and Emily fight... You may tell me off I you want to... Just know that they will come to their senses...**

**Thanks so much to **_**firsttimereviewer**_** for your lovely review! It made me so happy...**

- /- -

Five_ long _days had passed since Emily's stormy exit out of Hotch's apartment. And they both had yet to take a first step towards any form of reconciliation.

And it was driving the rest of the team nuts. Not that Hotch and Emily acted in any way other than completely professional while at work. They were both the very epitome of professionalism and were nothing but civil to each other. Although Hotch _had_ opted to pair her with Morgan during their latest case that they'd come back from one day earlier.

But Hotch and Emily were their friends and the team hated to see them so sad. Because they were sad. And they were in love. But they were also the most stubborn people known to man and neither would admit defeat.

Especially Garcia took it hard and had begun opening every conversation with Morgan with the question "Are they back to smooching yet?". So it came as no surprise that she was the one to grab Emily the first chance she got.

"Talk to me, Pussycat. Why is there a major cold front between you the boss man?"

"Remember when we went to that bar a week ago?" Emily asked sinking down on a chair in the kitchenette.

Garcia nodded affirmatively giving her a look to continue.

"Well after you guys left Hotch, Rossi and I decided to get one final round. And when I went up to the bar this creepy guy who'd been eying me all night started coming on to me. When I told him that I was with someone he tried to grab me. And just as I was about to kick the guy's ass, Hotch the caveman swoops in and saves the day. He totally overreacted, Penelope."

Garcia smiled at her friend. Few people were more independent than Emily. And few people were more protective of their friends than Hotch. She could only imagine how that protectiveness must have increased exponentially when he and Emily started dating.

"Can you really blame him, Em?" Garcia asked smilingly. "He saw his girlfriend being pawed by some other guy and he went into "Hotch the protector mode"."

"I guess..." Emily agreed sighing. "But I just want to be sure that he doesn't turn into this overprotective nut that doesn't let me do anything."

"Sunshine, you've been together what? Six months now? Has he ever hindered you in the field because he felt the situation was too dangerous for you?"

"No." Emily had to agree again.

"He knows that you can take care of yourself, Em. He just wants to keep you safe. He loves you." Garcia gave her a bright smile. "Think about it, Peanut."

-/-

Garcia knew that eventually both Emily and Hotch would come to their senses. But _she_ didn't have that kind of time. So she decided to speed the process along a bit. By forcing them to talk to each other. And to make sure of that happening she needed them to be somewhere together where they couldn't just leave.

Sitting well concealed in the depths of the Academy Garcia was doing two of the things she was the greatest at. Multitasking and scheming. She was simultaneously sending a message to Emily and calling Hotch's cell. While waiting for Hotch to pick up she wrote the message to Emily.

_Em,_

_Need you in tech cave pronto!_

_Garci_

"Hotchner." Hotch's deep voice filled her cell phone.

"Boss Man! Glad I caught you." Garcia trilled happily.

"What do you want, Garcia?" Hotch asked tersely. He'd been in a thoroughly _crappy_ mood the entire week.

"I've got something über super duper important for you to look at." Garcia answered stressing the super duper importance.

"Can't it wait?" Hotch asked tiredly.

"Nope."

Hotch had learned several years ago that it was always easier to just go with Garcia's whims if they did no real harm. And it wasn't like he was doing anything that couldn't wait. He could spare a few minutes to humor the technical analyst.

"Alright, I'll be there in a few minutes." He told her. "But Garcia, if this is _another_ photo-shopped picture of Morgan in chaps you're in _a lot_ of trouble."

"Duly noted, Sir." She answered cheerily.

_Okay Garci_. She thought to herself. _Now you've got to act fast_. And she left her hiding place and hurried towards her office.

-/-

When Hotch got to Garcia's office he could hear someone moving around inside but assumed that it was just Garcia pacing around. The fact that when he went in there and was met by long dark hair caught him a bit of guard. She stood slightly bent over Garcia's desk and he couldn't help but let his eyes wander down her body and rest at her ass a few seconds.

She must have heard him enter but assumed that he was Garcia because as she turned and saw him her eyes widened.

"Garci, why did you... Oh, you're not Garcia." She said and gave him a small smile.

"I'm _very_ glad that you noticed." He answered giving her a dimple.

Emily couldn't help but chuckle at his dry wit. "Garcia told me to come here ASAP." She explained.

"She told me the same. Said she had something über super duper important to show me."

"Oh. Pictures of Morgan in chaps?" Emily raised an eyebrow at him.

"God, I hope not." Hotch sighed raising an eyebrow back at her.

Just as the last words left Hotch's lips the heavy door to Garcia's lair swung closed and someone on the outside locked it. Both Hotch and Emily quickly scrambled over to the door banging on it and shouting.

"Hey! Let us out!"

"Not until you two work out your differences and kiss and make up!" They heard Garcia telling them through the door.

"Penelope, let us out!" Emily pleaded.

"Garcia, open this door. That's an order!" Hotch barked

No answer. The other side of the door was completely quiet.

"I think she's left." Emily said plopping herself down onto Garcia's desk chair.

Emily didn't say another word for a few moments. In her head the wheels were turning. Trying to figure out the best way to tell Hotch every little feeling that she was holding on to.

Hotch also kept quiet. His mind was also playing out the different scenarios that could occur in the small office they were both locked in. He knew what he wanted to say. He knew what he wanted to do.

"Aaron, I..." Emily started at the same time as Hotch opened his mouth.

"Em, I am..."

The clashing words made them both chuckle a little. Hotch was the first to break the silence again. He desperately needed Emily to know that all he ever wanted to do was to protect her. Not make her feel like she was less capable of anything.

"Emily, you need to know that I truly am sorry for the way I acted that night." Hotch started.

"Hotch, you don't need to..." Emily told him but was cut off by his deep voice.

"I _do_ need to and I want you to know that I really _do_ know that you can handle situations like that yourself. Your independence and strong character are some of the reasons I love you so much. Believe it or not." He told her giving her a dimple.

"I know Hotch." Emily smiled at him. "I love that you are so protective of the people around you. Including me. I just kind of freaked at the intensity of the events."

Hotch closed the distance between them and pulled her out of the desk chair pulling her into his arms. "I was a crazy situation." He concurred pulling her closer.

"I just want you to know that I'm so sorry that I acted all stubborn and crazy." She told him looking straight into his eyes dark eyes feeling the fire in her stomach flicker.

He shot her a small dimple and an eyebrow. "Hey, I was stubborn too. Let's just promise to never fight about something like this again."

"That sounds like a good plan." Emily answered and gave him a bright smile and wrapped her arms around his waist pulling him even closer. First she just stood there holding him and breathing in his scent genuinely surprised at just _how much_ she had missed such a trivial thing.

Hotch ran his fingers through her soft raven hair feeling the flutter in his stomach growing wilder. He'd missed touching her like this so much it had been physically painful. His brain started fogging over and all he knew in that moment was that he _needed_ to feel her lips on his.

Apparently he wasn't the only one having those kind of thoughts because before Hotch had the chance to do anything Emily caught his mouth. Feeling the urgency in her kiss he knew that she had missed him as much as he had her and that knowledge made him smile through the kiss.

Emily noticed that his lip action decreased and for a second she worried. But as she pulled away and saw the wide smile playing on his lips she couldn't help but match his smile with an equally wide of her own.

"Are you happy?" She asked him letting her hands glide along his spine and felt herself tingle as he shivered under her touch.

"You have no idea." He answered displaying both cheerful dimples as he tucked a tousled lock behind her ear.

"I think I do." Emily smiled and pulled him back down to her lips.

At first the kiss was gentle and a little quizzical. Then just as she settled on the slow and examining pace he turned the heat up. Shoving her forcefully against Garcia's desk he thrust his tongue into her mouth not caring about asking permission. He knew that she wanted it. And he wanted to reacquaint himself with every soft crevasse.

Breaking only for oxygen Emily managed a strangled whisper. "You know, here I just love caveman Hotch..."

Hotch simply smiled and responded by again locking his lips to hers and pushing himself flush against her. As he let his hands travel up under her shirt and graze the sides of her breasts he could vaguely make out voices from the the other side of the door. But the soft moan escaping Emily's lips made him forget all he'd ever known including his own name.

-/-

Walking down the corridor JJ spotted something very strange looking a few yards ahead. Garcia was standing outside her lair with her ear pressed tightly against the door.

"Garcia, what are you doing?" She asked bemused by the scene in front of her.

"I've locked Hotch and Em in my office so that they could work out their differences." Garcia smiled at her like it was the most normal thing in the world. "I left them in there about an hour ago. When I left I heard their voices. Now I don't hear anything."

"Oh. Okay" JJ had also learned a long time ago that with Garcia you just took everything for what it was. There was no real need questioning her somewhat quirky methods. "Do you think that Em has killed him?"

"Well, there's only one way to find out!" Garcia said cheerily unlocking the door with a wide smile. But as she swung open the door she was once again met by a sight she really didn't want to see. Emily was pressed hard against Hotch. Emily's hands were in Hotch's hair. Hotch's hands up Emily's shirt. Garcia's perfectly set desk chair was pushed to the floor. Her beloved troll doll, the one with purple glasses, had been ruthlessly knocked over. The sight made Garcia shriek.

"Please tell me that you did not _do it_ against my sweet innocent computers!"

**The End**

**A/N: Thanks ever so much for reading. Pretty please let me know what you thought!**

**Keep your eyes peeled for a completely new fic that I've been working on that is more of a case fic (but of course with a H/P romance, I wouldn't have it any other way!) and a bit darker than my previous work.**

**So, what did you think of the season finale?**

**/ Sussi**


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